While I can't speak for other worlds, in Auldrant we celebrate the "new year" in the middle of winter, shortly after the longest night. It's a bit different from the way things work here...but regardless, I am curious as to how many other worlds share a similar tradition.

[filtered to the Auldrant folks with whom she has made conversation]

Would you like to have dinner, at this house, for the new year? We have some new arrivals, and I think it might be good for all of us to visit with each other. ...You are, of course, free to decline. It's just a thought.

[and further filtered, away from Asch and Luke]

...And to an extent I thought we might...be able to celebrate. Even if time here is a bit different.

[Then? Then she's out and about town, doing things. She'll stop at the bakery, the grocery store...briefly at the battledome, pausing at the programming station but not really doing anything there. Once, she thinks about visiting Professor Nebilim, but she can't be sure of how late the woman stays at the school after class, and she wouldn't want to interrupt.

In short, she's a little bit of everywhere, ending that evening at Good Spirits. For a change of pace. And a drink, of course. Facades can be such a strain on the system.]

[At last. Peaceful, mostly sunny. No sign of the moon, or masks, or costumes.

...And Nephry is moving through the plaza at the pace and with the general stiff gait of an old woman.

Fitting, she thinks.

Near the fountain she sits on a bench, opening the journal on her lap. She's never been one to make announcements too personal, or to call unnecessary attention to herself. A chill breeze lifts a few pages of the book, though, and she smiles, writing.]

Winter is coming. [a pause, and then] It's still strange to me, sometimes. Even after living here for a couple of years...I still expect the cold and snow to be a more permanent visitor.

[An experiment is going on. Nephry knows this and has known for days. She's been in the jungle again, in the desert, and trapped in the same room, going through the exit only to come in through the entrance again. It makes almost no sense at all, and that made it so easy to remember that it wasn't anything real.

This morning she wakes up in her room in Keterburg.

The word 'experiment' isn't anywhere in her mind as she rises and stares at the bed, the fon lamp, the art on one wall. Out the window, snow is falling. She doesn't even bother to put on proper clothes before hurrying through the door and into her office.

Her office. One hand trails over the lid of the teapot, a small row of books, the emblem set into the back of the chair. Across the room, to a low bookshelf and the things that live there. A doll. A framed picture.

Home. She does manage to remember a coat before running - running - to throw open the front door and stare at her city in the snow. And smile.

It's when the breeze picks up and she shivers, and the wings shiver, that she finally realized this is just as false as the rest of it has been. Even though she could touch it. She puts a hand on the doorframe, then leans her whole self against it, visibly defeated.

...Perhaps it might be of some benefit to experience this while it lasts. It may be her last look at home, even a false one, for a long time. It takes her no time at all to change, and go back outside to walk slowly through the snow, heedless of any arctic monsters that might be lurking about.]

Nephry isn't. Nephry isn't enjoying much of anything really. They've left her just a few feet away from the fountain this afternoon. She's barely even conscious, let alone coherent enough to try alerting someone that she's back. And really, she's not doing well in the heat.

At least, in such a well-traveled place, it probably won't be too long before someone finds her.]

Tags:

Now that the weather is more favorable for it, and with so many chances to take advantage of it...on the advice of a friend, I would like to learn how to swim. It is...difficult to learn such things in my home, and so I never did.

There has been a Shift that displaced some of us from our homes this past evening. We should be prepared for the possibility that it will happen again tonight, but in light of the lack of serious injuries it seems the preparations for the festival, and our lives in general, may proceed.

Unless there are other complications from this Shift?

[[ooc: ...She's really not all that different, personality-wise, huh? Fun fact, when she married Dist Saphir he took her last name.]]

[she was supposed to meet Minato for tea today. It would be a chance to get out of the house and just enjoy some time with a friend. This morning everything seemed pretty much the same.

But by the time early afternoon rolls around, she's regretting her plans as well as her light lunch. She doesn't even bother with a filter.]

I won't be able to have tea with you today after all, Minato. My apologies.

[Between the listless voice and the coughing she has to take breaks for even in just those few words, he should be able to figure out why. Due to lack of filter, so should everyone else in Luceti with an ear to this entry. Nephry doesn't care, today.]